Notes the Role of the Army in the Formation of the Nation: “El Ejército Nació Con La Patria” (23)
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N o t e s Introduction 1. I am aware that some scholars are inclined to see continuity between the policies of El Proceso (1976–1983) and those of neoliberalism. See, for example, Christian Gundermann’s Actos melancólicos . I disagree with this position, as it does not explain the role of the democratic govern- ment of Raul Alfonsín, which reinstated unions and upheld paternalistic policies. 2. José Luis Romero judiciously notes the role of the army in the formation of the nation: “El ejército nació con la patria” (23). (The army was born with the nation). 3. Francine Masiello asserts that “although members of the generation of 1837 addressed the project of nation building in decidedly gendered terms, they often suppressed the potential of women by favoring a bond- ing among men” (Between Civilization and Barbarism , 34). 4. “La patria” (the nation) is a feminine noun. As a female, the nation needed fathers to steer her in the right direction. 5. David Rock mentions “the disproportionately large urban middle class” (161). 6. George Mosse explains that nineteenth-century ideas of masculinity were also defined in opposition to stereotypes that were deemed inappropriate, such as the dandy, the effeminate, and other types. For more on this, see Chapter 4 . For the case of Latin America, see Beatriz González Stephan’s “Heróes nacionales, estado viril y sensibilidades homosexuales.” 7. Unlike previous decades, the 1880s saw less participation of women writers who had been active in shaping the nation (Masiello, Between Civilization and Barbarism 5). 8. Arturo Jauretche in El medio pelo en la sociedad argentina emphasized immigration as a gendered phenomenon: “La población extranjera de Buenos Aires excedió del 50% y no hay que olvidar que en casi su totali- dad era adulta y masculina, es decir, la que trabajaba, andaba por la calle y los sitios públicos” (The foreign population of Buenos Aires exceeded 50%, and it can’t be forgotten that this was almost exclusively adult males, 192 Notes that is, those who worked and walked through the streets and through the public sites) (58). 9. Francine Masiello explains that women’s assertion of their rights led to their classification as subversive, represented in literature by the char- acter of the prostitute and a heightened concern among women with money ( Between Civilization and Barbarism 6–7). 10. José Luis Romero states that “Las dos grandes fuerzas políticas del siglo XX, el radicalismo y el peronismo, que se identificaron con el pueblo y la nación, desarrollaron una narración del pasado que confirmaba esa idea” (The two largest political forces of the twentieth century, Radicalism and Peronism, which both identified with the people and the nation, developed a narrative about the past that confirmed that idea) (25). 11. Beatriz González Stephan notes the contradictory impulses: on the one hand, universal literacy was considered a universal and thus democra- tizing right; on the other hand, the rules favored a system based on patriarchal authority (25). 12. For instance, Eva Perón (1919–1952), who was widely popular among the working classes, was not deemed fit to be nominated as vice-pres- ident. The main opposition to her candidacy came from the military, an exclusively male institution. For more on this, see Donna Guy 172–174. 13. For an interesting discussion on the suppression of female bodies and homosexuals in the literary imaginary as a result of military authoritari- anism, see Chapter 2 of Gabriel Giorgi’s Sueños de exterminio. 14. José Luis Romero explains that one consequence of the curricular reform of 1978 was the creation of a new subject, Formación Moral y Cívica (Moral and Civic Education), one of whose goals was the valori- zation of the family (126). 15. In Manhood in America cultural historian Michael Kimmel explains that “Between 1810 and 1820, the term breadwinner was coined to denote this responsible family man” (15). 16. According to E. Anthony Rotundo, the middle-class phenomenon of modern fatherhood emerged, in the nineteenth century (70). 17. For Gutmann expressions such as “‘work,’ ‘bring money,’ ‘earn money,’ ‘support the family economically,’ ‘fulfill marital duties economically’” defined Mexican masculinity (74). 18. Jauretche describes the union of immigrant males and Argentine women as positive because it led to the normalization of marriage and the sta- bility of the family (63). 19. Writing in the late 1980s, sociologist Elizabeth Jelin noted that women were absent actors in Argentina’s sociopolitical life (27). 20. Film scholar Constanza Burucúa identifies the paramilitary thriller as an instance of change in masculinity. She includes within this subgenre En retirada (In Retirement) (Juan Carlos Desanzo 1984), Los dueños del silencio (Owners of Silence) (Carlos Lemos 1987), Revancha de un amigo (Revenge of a Friend) (Santiago Carlos Oves 1987) and Gracias Notes 193 por los servicios (Thank You for Your Services) (Roberto Maiocco 1988) (72–109). While the existence of this subgenre is in itself suggestive, I find that these films are rather restrictive as they only analyze the changes in masculinity of the repressors. 21. For more on this, see Rocha’s “Contemporary Argentine Cinema.” 22. Argentine film critic Raúl Beycero noted in 1992, “es el Mercado el que determina qué películas se hacen en la Argentina de hoy” (it is the market that dictates which films are made in Argentina today) (81). 23. The only industrial Argentine female director, María Luisa Bemberg (1922–1995), directed her last film in 1993. Bemberg achieved popu- larity by representing patriarchy in Camila (1984), Miss Mary (1986), and Yo, la peor de todas (I, the Worst of All) (1990). 24. For more on this, see Tamara Falicov’s article about Ibermedia. 1 Decentered Men 1. Adolfo Aristarain was born in Buenos Aires in 1943. His father died when he was a child. He wanted to be a writer but he found the pro- fession too lonely and began working as an assistant director in the mid-1960s. From 1967 to 1973 he lived in Spain were he worked under several directors making popular films. He was assistant director of Daniel Tinayre’s La Mary (1974). 2. Aristarain uses the same name Bruno in his trilogy; in the first two, male characters are called Bruno di Toro. In Los últimos días de la víc- tima , Bruno is a young child 3. Oscar Domínguez Núñez and Elena María Barcellós Morante see a con- tinuity in the characters represented by acto Federico Luppi in Tiempo de revancha (1981), Un lugar en el mundo (1992), Martín H (1997), and Lugares comunes (2004). 4. In one of his first speeches, Alfonsín asserted, “Nuestra concepción de la política social inspirada en los valores de solidaridad, justicia social y participación dará impulso a acciones de servicio para la prevención de las situaciones que provocan estados carenciales” (Our view of social policy inspired in the values of solidarity, social justice and participation will give impulse to service actions that will prevent situations produced by lack of necessities) (20). 5. The film competed with Eliseo Subiela’s El lado oscuro del corazón (The Dark Side of the Heart) to be Argentina’s entry as Best Foreign Film in the Academy Awards. When Subiela’s film won, Aristarain convinced the Uruguayan film board to present Un lugar en el mundo as the national entry, basing his claim that his wife, Kathy Saavedra—the film’s cos- tume designer—was a Uruguayan citizen. Upon becoming aware of this issue, the board of directors of the Academy Awards disqualified the entry. The film won seven awards from the Argentine Association of Film Critics (Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Screenplay, 194 Notes Best New Actor, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Film), a Goya award, as the Best Spanish Language Film, two awards at the Fribourg Film Festival, the Best Film at the Gramado Film Festival, the audience Prize at the Nantes Film Festival, and the Golden Seashell at the San Sebastián Film festival. 6. For an excellent article on this topic, see Alberto Minujin’s “Squeezed: The Middle Class in Latin America.” 7. In an interview Adolfo Aristarain has recognized his reliance on tradi- tional cinematic genres: “Uso los géneros para arrancar, pero inmedi- atamente me olvido de ellos. Yo siento que he escrito historias, pero no siento que alguna vez haya seguido los dictámenes o reglas del género” (I use genres to start but I immediately forget about them. I feel that I have written stories, but I do not think that have ever followed the requirements or rules of the genre) (“El estilo”) 8. In “Squeezed: The Middle Class in Latin America,” Minujin explains that “Typical middle-class public sector jobs such as teaching, nursing and clerical work, which gave the employee and his or her family access to a series of benefits, lost status, suffered deterioration in working con- ditions, as well as in their income level, relative to other jobs” (153). 9. Falicov mentions that in the early 1990s the price of a movie ticket in Argentina drastically increased (The Cinematic 84). 10. In “Telémaco en América,” Jorge Ruffinelli considers other epochal characteristics that may have marked the end of the hegemony of the letrado : “la teoría del ‘fin de la historia’ y la destrucción de los absolutos y las metanarrativa, y con ello asumieron la inquietud y la angustia” (the theory of the “end of history” and the destruction of absolutes and master narratives and with that anguish and anxiety were generated) (443). 11. For more on this topic, see J. A. Magan’s and James Walvin’s Manliness and Morality: Middle-Class Masculinity in Britain and America. 12. Gonzalo Aguilar notes that in both Tiempo de revancha and in Un lugar en el mundo , Luppi plays the part of the upright man (19).